


A Moment in Time

by The_Malignant_Writer



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Death, Child Abuse, Depression, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Master of Death, Rewrite, Time Travel, Tom Riddle was Raised by Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 08:00:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13162683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Malignant_Writer/pseuds/The_Malignant_Writer
Summary: It takes just a moment to change the course of things. When Harry Potter's path sets his future on a different course, he will find himself, quite unwillingly, in the middle of a war that has to do with far more than light and dark as the universe attempts to set the world right.





	A Moment in Time

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is a re-write of a rather old story that I had posted up elsewhere. If you are familiar with the story, you will find that it starts out a bit differently. However, I do have a rather similar plan for it so if you are looking for a "Harry raises Tom" story this is definitely going to be that :)

Time is a straight line. While one might attempt to disrupt it, it will _always_ find a way to right itself. An individual who believes himself to be interfering is merely setting righting history, keeping those who should be alive as they should be and making sure that what should happen eventually does. However, the small minds of man never consider this. Humanity is arrogant, whether he take the form of a lowly muggle or a grand wizard. Either way, he is drawn to the idea of uniqueness and power. It is understandable why. After all, there is something attractive in entertaining the notion that one can change the world, _the universe_. It does not matter if he cannot not, if the attempt is futile. He will always try, just as an animal tries to survive despite what nature deems inevitable.

Those who do try to meddle though- the boulder opposed to the pebble- are the most dangerous. They touch upon the most sacred, bending laws which should not even be considered to be broken. Fate is never kind to them. Yet, what do the desperate care about fate? When the end is nigh and all seems to be lost men are often willing to do anything, no matter the consequences.

Harry Potter is little different.

Harry Potter enters a cruel world. His parents do not consider him, not truly. They keep to a war instead of keeping to their child. It is a mistake of youth, but one with a high price for it does not take long for them to require cover. Prophecy often enjoys toying with the weak and desperate, and sweet words of hope place danger upon two. The sins of the father are the sins of the son, and monsters do not care whether or not a child has truly done anything. A target is a target and a death is a death. Death shapes his world into pain and loneliness. What is love? What is the touch of a mother and the praise of a father? He cannot claim to know for his home is a cage and his life a routine.

Slowly, hope becomes fantasy and what is good about Harry Potter slowly begins to become fantasy. It hides, like a spider under a nook, because those around him do not wish to see it and children are far more aware than the world likes to believe. Yet, hope intrudes and slowly, life becomes a bit better. Family is created and the world seems just a bit brighter. _However, the world is cruel and Harry Potter has always known this, has always been far more aware of this than anyone around him_. People fall, one by one. Lord Voldemort does not like to lose. It is as much a strength as a weakness. He works single-mindedly. He will see Harry Potter dead, even if it means he must break him in the process. So, he does. Word travels about the deaths, reaching even the lonely three as they travel in a seemingly hopeless trip that they do not entirely know how to carry out. Anyone with hope and courage is doomed. Like a boogeyman, Lord Voldemort will snuff them out and the manner in which he might do so is often exaggerated. Yet, who is to argue? There appears to be no savior. There is only death and darkness.

Harry Potter grows weary. The locket enjoys to play off of it. It knows that they will forget about it if it plays off of it. After all, with weariness and grief come anger. Anger is an excellent tool, for a divided house cannot stand as well as a united one. It sows its treachery throughout the three. Ron leaves, leaving Harry and Hermione alone. Alone, the two struggle. Words are fewer and the routine is looser with Hermione's grief. Harry will not mention it. He is too kind, too sacrificial, and... _too used to pain_. It is better to leave Hermione or else he might truly be alone.

Time ticks by slowly but surely. Instead of finding any form within their situation, the grief that has managed to sink itself into their situation begins to grow. The fault lies not with Harry or even Hermione. Rather, it lies within something far darker. Harry is far from alone, though he cannot truly know it. While neither individual may say nothing, whispers begin to worm their way within the ebony haired wizard's world. It is soft, unable to speak up due to how weak it is.

_What does Ron matter?....When has he ever been there?...He's just doing what he always does....again._

The words float through his mind subtly enough that he begins to think them his own thoughts. When  _has_ Ron ever been there? Out of all his friends, the redhead was always the first to give up on him. The fact that Ron has left is hardly surprising. After all, he always wanted for more. Exactly why the other had come is beyond him. After all, everything he should want is back at home? His heart aches at the thought of a home- _b_ _ecause of course Ron does not realize what he has-_ and he cannot help but find himself thinking that Ron's continued absence is probably proof enough that the redhead has no intentions to return.

_So why should you forgive him?_

It is a fair point, but one he finds himself distracted from as the clear figure of a patronus. In what can only be described as a moment of clarity, he finds himself following the slim figure of the doe, disappearing at a lake. The quickly disappearing figure of the sword is the only motivation he needs to dive in. It is a foolish move, as he quickly finds himself drowning. The locket starts to feel heavy, far too heavy for any locket to actually feel. As his vision begins to blur, he vaguely finds himself realizing that the locket is killing him. However, he has little time to focus on it, for he will die if he does not reach the surface soon.

_**Help!** _

His mental cry does not go unheard. After all, Harry is not alone. However, his companion cares a bit more about itself than its host. It does not care what happens to Harry, not until it becomes quite clear that nobody will come to help the wizard. Tom Riddle is not fond of death and the last thing it will allow is one of its more foolish... _kin_ to destroy him. Saving itself is easy. After all, the line between Harry and Tom is thin. As such, it only takes magic to escape, something that is too wild to belong to Harry. It twists and it turns, wishing to go somewhere else. There is no real place in mind and so it just goes, falling and falling until Harry is elsewhere.


End file.
